The VentureFizz Podcast

Digital asset management is not a new term, but the number of assets that are being generated by companies is exploding, which in return makes it very challenging to collaborate and keep tabs of everything. Take VentureFizz, we have videos, audio files, images and more spread throughout Google Drive, Dropbox, Canva, multiple hard drives, and probably several other spots that I’m forgetting. Air is taking on this problem head on, as they are building the collaboration platform for your team’s visual work. The company just announced a $12M Series A round of funding led by Tiger Global. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The belief that every company and individual is a media company. * Shane’s background growing up in Toledo and his decision to attend Stanford where he met his co-founder, Tyler Strand. * His prior company, Swap Mobile, and his experience as an investor and what these experiences taught him. * All of the details on Air in terms of the founding story to where the company and platform is today. * What it was like fundraising during the pandemic. * Advice for founders on building their initial core team. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

The Fintech industry has been blowing up over the past few years with lots of innovative advances and solutions. From digital products geared towards consumers like Robinhood and Lemonade which logged a very successful IPO back in July. To more of the foundation tech layer with platforms like Stripe for online payments and Plaid that was acquired by Visa for a reported $5.3B. Alloy is right in the sweet spot of this rapidly growing Fintech industry, as they are providing the identity operating system for the financial services industry and the company just announced a $40M Series B round of funding. Fraud detection has always been a challenge for banks, but the problem has only grown more severe due to the pandemic which has definitely shifted consumers’ behavior. Their solution makes it easy for financial services companies to quickly and safely onboard and manage more customers. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The explosion of the Fintech industry and what the future holds for financial services. * Laura’s background including her original interest in law school to how she ended up as the first employee at a Fintech startup. * A deep dive into Alloy and how their platform is helping financial institutions with a much needed solution. * What it was like raising venture capital during a pandemic. * Advice on building a diverse team * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

It’s incredibly impressive to see what Edward has accomplished throughout his career. He’s a serial entrepreneur, board member, and an investor in over 200 companies… and he’s still in his twenties. His latest company is called Conduit, which he founded with Sree Kolli. Conduit is creating a highly curated and value added marketplace with the goal of connecting the best operator investors and founders who are building the next generation of startups around the world. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The importance of building a network even at a young age. * Edward’s background and his decision to move from France to the United States to attend the University of Pennsylvania. * His early entrepreneurial pursuits. * How he got into angel investing and the details on what he targets for making investments. * A deep dive into Conduit in terms of how it all works and how it is differentiated in the marketplace from other platforms. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

David and I go way back. We first met when he was the Executive Director of TUGG, a non-profit embedded in the tech industry in Boston. He is now back to his roots living in Rochester, NY which has a growing tech scene with several startups and lots of great academic institutions. Impellent Ventures is a fund that is supporting early stage startups. The firm has made investments in multiple regions like Boston, but a core piece to their strategy is to invest in startups in western NY. After returning to the area, it became apparent to David that there was a large opportunity to fund companies locally and help grow the ecosystem there. During our conversation, we get into the weeds on the startup scene in Rochester, NY which was very interesting to learn about because it has some parallels to the earlier days of the Boston ecosystem. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * How David got into venture and if he always had a goal of being an investor. * His foundational years and career path leading up to the start of a new venture firm. * All of the details on Impellent Ventures and a look at their current portfolio of companies. * Common pitch mistakes that entrepreneurs tend to make. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

In these podcast interviews, you’ve probably heard me talk about my background in recruiting. I ran a search firm called Dissero and product management was a core area of specialty. Thus, I was really excited to interview Nate, as he is one of the top product leaders in the tech industry and it was an opportunity to really geek out on the topic of product management. We discuss lots of great topics related to this field like how to determine if a career in product management is right for you, what are the key traits for a strong product manager, and what a day in the life of a product leader looks like. In this episode of our podcast, we also cover: * Nate’s appointment to the Board of Directors at Cockroach Labs and how this seems to be a growing trend of having more operating *. * executives on the board at companies. * A journey through his career including his decision to attend business school at MIT Sloan and being part of the team that won the famous MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. * How Nate groomed his career into a product management leadership role at a startup. * All the details on Cockroach Labs and its cloud-native, distributed SQL database. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

I always think the best ideas for a business are from entrepreneurs who are tackling the problems they have faced in the real world. As you’ll hear from this episode, NeighborSchools is a perfect example. Finding quality and affordable child care is a tricky thing and when you factor in the COVID-19 world we are living in, the stakes are even higher. It was this challenge that Bridget was facing as a new working mom. Brian, Bridget and their third co-founder, Cedric McDougal, all met while working together at InsightSquared and once they started to poke around the industry, they noticed some critical issues that were ripe for disruption through technology. Thus, NeighborSchools was born. The venture backed company provides a platform to help parents find trusted child care, while enabling child care providers with all the tools they need to successfully run their own home daycare. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Starting a podcast and the details behind their own podcast series called Work Like a Mother. * Their background stories leading up to working together at InsightSquared. * All of the details on NeighborSchools and how they are revolutionizing the child care industry through home daycare. * How they navigated the business through the pandemic. * Raising a $3.5M seed round led by Accomplice. * Challenges founders face when starting a company. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Sam is an investor and entrepreneur, who is one of the top product leaders in the tech scene. After leading product at BzzAgent and HubSpot, he went on to be a co-founder at InsightSquared, the leading provider of revenue intelligence solutions. At Accomplice, he is focused on making investments in B2B software and marketplace companies. He’s also part of the faculty at Harvard Business School where he teaches the early-stage startup course called Launching Tech Ventures. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * How Sam’s experience as a product leader and operator has helped influence his role as a Venture Capitalist. * His background story and how he ended up leading product teams. * The founding story of InsightSquared and how they built product market fit. * What led him down the path of becoming a VC again. * Lots of great tips for hiring product managers, including a useful secret on where to find them. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Did you know that 2.3B people in the world seek help for skin issues every year? Two-thirds of these cases are evaluated by non-specialists and the shocking statistic is that 50% of these cases are misdiagnosed. It’s a challenge because there are not enough dermatologists and most physicians only spend one week learning dermatology in medical school. So, what if you could leverage AI and computer vision to help physicians quickly and accurately identify skin conditions. It sounds like a perfect use case for AI and this is exactly what LuminDx is doing. The company recently closed a $2M seed round of funding led by Argon VC. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Advice for founders on how to give an awesome demo day pitch. * Susan’s background story and her time in academia. * How Susan’s diagnosis with melanoma, when she was 22 years old, led to the creation of LuminDx. * All of the details on LuminDx and the evolution of the company. * Her experience raising funding as a female founder. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

CareAcademy recently announced its Series A round of funding, but I need to put this accomplishment into perspective. Raising capital is hard for any entrepreneur, but Helen had some extra obstacles in her way - a pandemic, she is a female founder, and a Black entrepreneur. The percentages for each independent scenario for raising capital are not favorable, never mind putting everything all together. No one could have predicted obstacles around a pandemic, but the other numbers around the other obstacles need to be improved, which I hope is finally starting to happen. But, as you’ll hear in this podcast interview, Helen is a resilient entrepreneur and her process of fundraising was incredibly thorough. It’s a process that all entrepreneurs need to pay attention to. CareAcademy is the leading home care & home health workforce empowerment platform, upskilling and preparing workers for the growing eldercare market and home care model. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * The importance of storytelling and its impact on your company. * Helen’s background story as a multi-generational entrepreneur and experience in education. * A deep dive into CareAcademy and the opportunity ahead to transform the caregiver market. * How they were able to adapt & respond to Covid-19. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Klaviyo is one of the fastest-growing companies in the tech industry, but the path to their current scale is a fascinating story. It’s a story of a company that remained lean and bootstrapped for a long stretch of time. For the first three years of the company, it was just Andrew and his Co-Founder, Ed Hallen, handling everything. Even as they started to scale, it was a different philosophy versus what most startups decide to do in terms of rushing to raise venture capital as soon as possible. Instead, they focused on building a solid foundation for the business by iterating the platform to the point where they were solving critical problems for companies. Klaviyo did eventually raise a modest amount of venture capital over the years, but it wasn’t until last year when they raised a major growth round of $150M to add some high octane gas to the fire. Today, Klaviyo has over 400 employees and its platform helps growth-focused eCommerce brands drive more sales with super-targeted, highly relevant email, Facebook and Instagram marketing campaigns. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Andrew’s thoughts on space travel, the recent SpaceX launch, and the possibility of landing on Mars * The early foundational years of Andrew’s career. * A deep dive into the story of the early bootstrapping days at Klaviyo and how they started to get traction. * Why they finally decided to raise funding. * Lessons learned around scaling a company to over 400 employees. * Why resumes should be in chronological order - not reverse chronological. * Advice for founders on how to stay organized and productive * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.